


here in your arms

by Sparrows



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Napping, Other, Tenderness, byleth doesn't sleep enough and this is canon fact, seteth is here for like a paragraph being nosy, they/them used for byleth throughout so have fun with that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 12:04:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20114824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparrows/pseuds/Sparrows
Summary: "It was a well-known fact among the Golden Deer that Byleth seldom slept. Maybe that would explain Claude's current predicament... He certainly wouldn't have been able to explain it had anyone asked."Yeah, I know someone else wrote napfic already but the "two cakes" principle says I get to post mine as well.





	here in your arms

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't played the game but i can't stop screaming about how soft i am for claude and his big dumb heart anyways so here have this
> 
> if anything contradicts canon i refer you to the first five words of the above sentence

It was a well-known fact among the Golden Deer — hell, even the other two houses, _and_ the rest of the faculty, and probably anyone who'd ever spoken to them for longer than two minutes — that Byleth seldom slept. They were always up and about, no matter how late the hour; if they weren't reading multiple books at once, then they were practicing their swordplay down in the training yard, or going over the finer points of their latest lesson with one student or another, or giving people back things they'd lost, or doing just about _anything_ besides _actually sleeping_.

Maybe that would explain Claude's current predicament. He certainly wouldn't have been able to explain it had anyone asked, and wasn't even sure himself how it had happened — they'd simply been talking about something, leaning together comfortably, the exact subject something he couldn't recall right now — when Byleth had fallen asleep against him, eyes sliding shut between one murmured word and the next. Now he was on his back underneath them, pinned by their slight frame, with their head pillowed against his chest and one hand raised to curl gently against the front of his uniform.

Claude swallowed thickly as he looked down at them. In sleep, the professor looked... smaller. Softer, more vulnerable maybe, even _delicate_ — not that he'd dare to call them any of these things out loud, at least when they were within earshot. The weight that seemed to sit across their shoulders and stoop them over their work in every waking hour had lifted, at least for now, and their face was calmer for it. Even the little ever-present crease between their brows had smoothed out.

He often forgot that Byleth wasn't much older than the students they taught. It seemed so much more obvious when they were asleep.

It took a little squirming — he didn't dare move too suddenly, just in case Byleth turned out to be a light sleeper — but after a few moments Claude managed to tug his cape free from where it was wedged underneath himself, and then he draped it over Byleth as best he could. They often complained of the cold, after all. It was only the considerate thing to do. In fact, he was being strictly practical when he tucked the smooth golden fabric more snugly around them wherever he could reach.

Putting his arm around them was practical, too. What if they right to roll over in their sleep, only to fall before he had a chance to catch them? That couldn't be allowed to happen. _Clearly,_ Claude reasoned, the only solution was to wrap his arms around their shoulders, pulling them just a little closer as they continued to sleep so peacefully.

_(His hand at the nape of the neck was harder to justify. He had no excuse for the way his thumb gently swept back and forth through the wispy strands at the edge of their hairline. The skin of their neck was warm beneath his palm. Perhaps that was reason enough.)_

He wasn't entirely sure how long he lay there, listening to Byleth's slow, measured breathing, feeling the way it made them rise and fall against his chest. They showed no sign of waking any time soon, sleeping the sleep of the truly exhausted. Claude didn't mind; he had nothing planned for the afternoon, and even if he had, he would've cleared his schedule — even skipped class — without a second thought, if it had meant allowing Byleth just a little longer to sleep.

Claude was stirred from his thoughts when the door creaked open. He looked up, blinking owlishly. Seteth peered around the edge of the door, stepping into the room and mumbling under his breath — only to stop, raising both eyebrows when his gaze landed upon the pair of them. Claude glanced downwards at the soundly-sleeping professor, his arms tightening around their shoulders even as he felt the tips of his ears go warm.

Seteth cleared his throat quietly. "I was hoping I could speak with Byleth for a moment," he said after several long moments. "I can see, however, that they are currently..."

"_Unavailable_," Claude said, the word coming out slightly sharper than he'd intended it. He swallowed and softened his tone purposely as he continued. "Can't it wait a couple of hours? I think this might actually be the first time Teach's slept in _days_." He remembered poking his head into their chambers earlier, trying to track them down; their bed had been perfectly made, but there'd been a distinct look to the sheets of not having been slept in for almost a week. "Please," he added.

Seteth sighed sharply through his nose, one hand coming up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Very well," he said eventually, a slight frown tugging down the corners of his mouth. "When they _do_ wake up, please ask them to come find me."

The door clicked shut behind him, masking Claude's sigh of exasperated relief. His head flopped back against the arm of the couch the pair were currently occupying, and he stared up at the ceiling. Byleth shifted slightly against his chest, letting out a mumble that might've been a word, or a name, or nothing at all. Claude shushed them almost instinctively, his fingers carding slowly through their hair.

Byleth gave so much of themselves, over and over and over again without so much as a word of complaint, all for the sake of the House and students they'd adopted as their own family; if the least he could do to repay their selflessness was to play guard dog for an hour or two, warding off anyone who might come to disturb their rest, then that was exactly what Claude would do.

Maybe he'd rest his eyes first, though. Only for a minute or two, of course, just to get comfortable. Then he'd go right back to guard duty.

* * *

Byleth woke slow and soft, blinking away the fuzziness in their head. They'd been dreaming; whatever it was, they couldn't remember, but it had been good. They felt warm, content, safe. Protected, they might say, although they couldn't figure out why.

Wait. Their pillow was _moving_.

Byleth's brow furrowed in confusion. They... did not tend to sleep in a moving bed. True, they'd once fallen asleep on horseback, and had startled awake as they'd started to slide from the saddle, but that had been _years_ ago. They thought about that for a few long moments, running their tongue across the back of their teeth in distaste — _ew, fuzzy_ — while they did so.

The material under their cheek and palm was warm and pleasantly soft to the touch. A little damp under their cheek specifically, which they would probably feel embarrassed about if they were any more awake. There were a pair of arms around their shoulders, strong and sure, and a hand pressed gently to the back of their head as if meaning to cradle them close. The fingers woven through their hair were callused a little across the pads. _Bowstrings..?_

With a slow-dawning sense of comprehension and a tilt of the head, Byleth found themselves looking up at Claude's sleeping face. He'd gone loose and relaxed as he slept, mouth open just a little as he snored ever so quietly. His breathing hitched for a moment, his nose scrunching up — an endearing look on someone who otherwise valued keeping up appearances so highly — before he settled again, arms twitching momentarily tighter around Byleth's shoulders.

Their meeting with Seteth could wait a little longer, Byleth decided, resting their cheek against Claude's chest and letting their eyes fall shut once more. They were quite comfortable right where they were.


End file.
